Gazprom Neft establishes a “Cross-industry Joint Technology Development Centre” with the Administration of the Tomsk Oblast

Gazprom Neft has entered into a cooperation agreement with the Administration of the Tomsk Oblast, signed at this year’s Russian Investment Forum by Gazprom Neft CEO and Chairman of the Management Board Alexander Dyukov and Governor of the Tomsk Oblast Sergei Zhvachkin.

The agreement envisages new forms of cooperation being developed and implemented between Gazprom Neft and local universities, scientific organisations, and real-sector small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).* Cooperation will be based around a “Cross-industry Joint Technology Development Centre” which the company will be establishing in partnership with the Administration and higher educational establishments in Tomsk.

The document also envisages the partners cooperating in experimental formats for organising research and development (R&D) activities and innovation, including research centres, centres of excellence, engineering centres, science and technology consortia, and research laboratories. Joint activities will focus on digitising exploration, production and oil-refining processes, and on developing tools and methodologies for developing new kinds of reserves, including carbonate and fractured reservoirs.

The parties will also be evaluating potential cooperation in R&D, and in the introduction of “new materials” (“smart” and composite materials, new kinds of crystalline structures and chemical compounds, coatings, surface treatments and modifications, and new design and construction technologies), as well as in other areas.

Alexander Dyukov, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board, Gazprom Neft, commented: “The Tomsk Oblast is one of Russia’s most important innovation and educational centres. Signing this cooperation agreement will allow Gazprom Neft to utilise the region’s massive scientific potential in overcoming the technological challenges facing both our company and the entire oil and gas industry. One of the most important tasks the company plans to address, together with Tomsk’s science and technology community, is developing technologies for the exploration and production of hard-to-recover Jurassic hydrocarbon reserves in Western Siberia.”

Alexander DyukovCEO and Chairman of the Management Board, Gazprom Neft

Sergei Zhvachkin, Governor of the Tomsk Oblast, added: “The Tomsk Oblast’s competitive advantage lies in the science and technology community’s strong links to the real sector of the economy — specifically with Russia’s leading companies. And Gazprom Neft is one of our most reliable partners, with whom we have implemented no small number of projects — from researching the effective development of hard-to-recover oil reserves, to developing high-tech products for industry. We are now expanding the scope of our cooperation, which is proving profitable for both the region, and the company”.

Sergei ZhvachkinGovernor of the Tomsk Oblast

Notes for editors

* New kinds of cooperation between Gazprom Neft, the Administration, and regional organisations within the Tomsk Oblast are being developed and trialled as part of the “Scientific and Technological Development Strategy of the Russian Federation” (STDS), directed at developing a modern management system in science, technology and innovation to promote investment attractiveness in R&D. The Tomsk and Novosibirsk Oblasts were selected as pilot regions for implementing the STDS in 2018. Two different models for implementing the strategy are to be developed within each oblast, which will subsequently be rolled out to other regions in Russia.

Gazprom Neft signed a cooperation agreement with the Tomsk Oblast on developing the region’s hard-to-recover hydrocarbon reserves at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in 2016. This document envisages both parties engaging in investigating and evaluating prospects for developing hard-to-recover reserves in the Tomsk Oblast, including as part of the “Paleozoic” project (for developing methodologies for investigating promising formations and evaluating Jurassic reserves), as well as utilising the science and technology skills and potential of national research institutes including Tomsk Polytechnic University and Tomsk State University, the Institute of Petroleum Chemistry (part of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), and JSC TomskNIPIneft.

Gazprom Neft and the Administration of the Tomsk Oblast agreed on a roadmap for “Expanding the use of high-technology products by organisations within the Tomsk Oblast” in 2017, directed at increasing procurement from regional producers.

Gazprom Neft also entered into an agreement on social and economic cooperation with the local Administrations of the Tomsk Oblast’s Kargasoksky and Parabelsky districts, which has resulted in kindergartens, housing complexes for young workers, hockey pitches and sports facilities being built, and schools and pre-school facilities refurbished.